Case Number: D2022-3404
Complainant: Build A Rocket Boy Games Ltd.
Represented by: Marks & Clerk Solicitors
A long-running series of trademark disputes in Europe, involving a German company and a U.K. game developer, erupted in a UDRP case involving the disputed domain buildarocket.com. The dispute led Build A Rocket Boy Games Ltd. to file a UDRP with the World Intellectual Property Organization against a German eSports and gaming advertiser, Build A Rocket GmbH. However, the WIPO panel considering the case found Build A Rocket Boy Games was abusing the UDRP administrative process, ruling that the U.K. game developer’s trademarks did not precede the business operations of the German company.
“[T]he Respondent … started using the name Build A Rocket as its company name and several corresponding domain names for a bona fide offering of goods or services in the period prior to the commencement of the Complainant’s activities in 2018,” the panel wrote in its ruling.
“The Complainant was therefore aware of these facts and ought to have known that it could not succeed as a result, but nevertheless proceeded to file the Complaint,” the panel concluded.
The RDNH ruling was handed up on November 4, 2022.
Source: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/pdf/2022/d2022-3404.pdf